September 28, 2006
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by Boeing which turns on the False Claims Act’s requirement that a relator be the “original source” of the information if the claims have been publicly disclosed.
The company’s Rockwell unit is seeking to overturn an award to a whistleblower who accused Rockwell of making false statements about environmental, health and safety activities at its Rocky Flats nuclear-weapons facility outside Denver.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit found that the whistleblower qualified as an original source, but Rockwell contends he had only “background” information.
Additional information can be found in the Bloomberg News report published in the September 27, 2006 issue of the Seattle Times.